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Show Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 Page 15 StatesmanSpOrtS BASEBALL Aggies end Colorado State series with loss BY TAVIN STUCKI sports editor The Aggies fell to Colorado 11-9 in the final installment of the four-game series Sunday morning. After striking out three batters in two innings, Utah State pitcher Sixto Cabrera faced all nine CSU batters in 10 at-bats in the top of the third. Cabrera walked two batters, and gave up three singles and a double as the Rams took a 4-0 lead. The Aggies cut the margin by one in the bottom half of the inning, but the Rams added two more in the top of the fourth to make it 6-1 CSU. Then Utah State started hitting the ball. Aggie infielder Kyle Durrant singled to center field and later scored from second on a Colorado State fielding error on catcher Jeff Schiffman's ground ball to third base. USU third baseman Brad Singer singled to left field on a hard ground ball to score Schiffman and senior Jaren Tyler two batters later to make it 6-4. Singer scored in his second at-bat of the inning on a double by junior outfielder Tyler Christensen to pull within one. The Aggie bullpen held CSU scoreless in the next three innings. Utah State slugger Matt Stranksi hit a three-run shot over the left field fence to give the Aggies an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth and silence the CSU dugout. The Warwick, New York, native said he thought the home run might have been the gamewinning hit. "That was nice to have," Stranski said. "We were down a run, and we had a couple baserunners, so to go up two late in the game and the pitching that we have, we were confident." It wasn't so. The Aggies walked four batters in the top of the eighth inning. Two runners scored when Schiffman threw a pickoff attempt down the right-field line to make it 10-8. Another run crossed the plate when freshman Justin Peterson couldn't hold on to the tag after pulling in Singer's wide throw to first base on an easy ground ball and the Aggies lost 11-9. FRESHMAN FIRST BASEMAN JUSTIN PETERSON waits for a pickoff throw from the mound in Utah State's extra-inning 9-4 loss on Saturday. The Aggies and Rams split the four-game series in a rematch of last season's National Club Baseball Association Championship game. DELAYNE LOCKE photo "We beat ourselves," Stranski said. "When you have so many errors, you can't expect to make five or six outs in an inning and hold them to one run." State Your Case Sean O'Sullivan r I 1 „ Lead, Never op 40. lip Follo w Here at Utah State, we pride ourselves on being pioneers. We had an a great publication in The Refraction before New Mexico State had The PanAmmunition — and we did it better, too, I might add. We didn't invent "I Believe" or "Winning Team/Losing Team," but nobody had heard about it before we made it famous in front of the whole country on ESPN. But now we want to do a white out. The Winnipeg Jets and Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League made whiteouts famous. Penn State does whiteouts. The Miami Heat does whiteouts. Even the school down south attempts whiteouts. Now, instead of being pioneers, we're being followers. I understand that "Fighting White" is one of our official school colors, but every team utilizes white in their Utah State will next face the Rexburg Rebels in a doubleheader beginning at noon on Saturday, Sept. 29 in Providence, Utah. - tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu Twitter: @Stuckiaggies • Will the homecoming white-out be as awesome • as head coach Gary Andersen thinks it will be? color pallet. We're Utah State University, and we wear "Aggie Blue" to games. Even though I am not a fan of whiteouts, I will be participating in this one whiteout for one reason: Gary Andersen. He said the team will be in all white and he wants us all to wear white in the stands. Since Gary's word is getting as close to untouchable as Stew's word, I will be wearing white on Saturday, but I will do so very grudgingly. - sean.osullivan@aggi- emaiLusu.edu Twitter: @Seansy89 Jordan Dahl 4011#44 Embrace I Coach's Wish New logo, a winning record: Boy, do our Aggies look good this year. Throw some brand-spanking new jerseys into the mix and we have ourselves a team that plays with both heart and style. I am a fan of the white-out game, or specifically, our white- out game. I know a certain school down south has done white-outs in the past, but as I recall, their football team still wore their blue jerseys. Boring. This game will be unique in that the Aggies will be decked out in their brand new white uniforms, joining the crowd in the festivities and breaking in their new jerseys with pizazz. I like the all-white jerseys. They give our players a sleek and streamlined look out on the field, not to mention the eye tricks white does to the eyes, making the players look even faster than they already are. It will be a very different atmosphere in Romney Stadium with the crowd wearing white instead of blue, but I'm looking forward to it. It's something new and probably won't happen very often, so let's just embrace it. And most important of all, let's cheer our team to victory. - j.dahl@aggiemail. usu.edu Twitter: @jdahl3 FOOTBALL: Aggies win third game of season OFrom page 13 22 carries for 218 yards and two touchdowns. "We came out in the second half with a fire lit underneath us and just wanted to go out there and play hard," Williams said. "From start to finish, the offensive line did a good job of opening up a big hole for me to hit." USU quarterback Chuckie Keeton threw two interceptions in the game, his second and third of the season. "We lost the turnover margin," Andersen said. "We're living on the edge as a football team. We had an opportunity and we did an okay job tonight, but we still made it harder than it may have had to have been." Colorado State linebacker Shaquil Barrett had one of those interceptions and also recovered a fumble for a touchback near the end of the first half. Colorado State made things interesting at the start of the fourth quarter when sophomore quarterback Garrett Grayson completed passes on back-to-back fourth-down conversions, connecting with senior receiver Dominique Vinson to pull within 12. Aggie running back Joe Hill scored from 15 yards out to make it 31-12 with fewer than eight minutes left to play. Grayson hit senior Marquise Law from 29 yards out to score with 1:43 left in the game to make it 31-19. The ensuing onside kick was unsuccessful, and Keeton kneeled on the final series to secure the 31-19 victory. It's the first time Utah State has been 3-1 in 34 years. USU will face UNLV at Romney Stadium on Sept. 29 at 6 p.m. for homecoming. "It's a great feeling," Andersen said. "It's a great victory for all of us, it's a great victory for everybody back home. Like I've said a million times, this takes everybody to flip this thing and get it to where we want it to be, which is a consistent winner." - tavin.stucki®aggiemail.usu.edu Twitter: @stuckiaggies Make it SPECIAL, Make it46:171C/C 1)‘ Amavida, which literally means "love for life" is a collection of some of the world's most intricately detailed and breathtaking diamond rings. When you've found that perfect love, its Amavida. This line of perfect keepsakes will embody and mirror this flawless sense of the word. Introducing AMAVI DA C%rr c c 47m eweit'y SENIOR WIDE RECEIVER MATT AUSTIN shakes hands with a young Aggie fan at the Colorado State game Saturday, which Utah State won 31-19 in Fort Collins, Colo. CURTIS RIPPLINGER photo 930 N. Main Logan, Ut 435-753-9755 |